Our AGM speaker will be Dr. Sally Watson on Protest and participation in the redevelopment of Byker, 1968-1982.

Byker has long divided opinion. It has been celebrated for its achievements, both architectural and social, and criticised as a failed experiment. This talk revisits Byker to reconsider some of the myths that have sprung up around its redevelopment. The neighbourhood was earmarked for demolition in 1963, with a new plan for Byker published in 1966.

Following a backlash to this proposal, Newcastle City Council appointed the architectural practice Ralph Erskine Arkitektkontor to oversee the redevelopment. They committed to retaining as many of the existing population as possible and to engaging tenants in decision-making about its future design. The talk will cover this period of protest, which generally receives less attention than the redevelopment itself. It will then go on to examine how tenants continued to campaign for housing rights alongside exerting their influence on the design of the new neighbourhood.

Finally, it considers what were the implications of redeveloping ‘Byker for Byker people’, as the rallying cry went, both for children who had no voice in this process and in terms of who could become a Byker tenant. It concludes by considering the legacy of the struggle over Byker.

Dr Sally Watson is a researcher in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University. Her research focuses on the relationship between changing ideas about children and the design and regulation of the urban environment since the mid 20th century. As part of her PhD research, she undertook the first extensive archival study based on the office archive of Ralph Erskine’s practice in Byker. She has also worked in museums and architectural archives in Newcastle, London and Edinburgh.